A managed network, such as an enterprise private network or a data center network, may contain a large number of entities distributed across the network. These entities may include, for example, endpoint machines, access points, routers, switches, servers, firewalls, gateways, or other computing devices. The entities may also include logical, virtual, or other types of entities such as virtual machines, containers (an instance of container-based virtualization), or resources (e.g., applications, endpoint groups, etc.). In addition to being different types, these entities may be grouped in different departments, located in different geographical locations, and/or serve different functions.
Some modern technologies enable a network to be remotely managed. This scheme is sometimes referred to as cloud managed networking, where one or more networks (which may be geographically dispersed) may be managed by a cloud management system which communicates with the one or more networks over the internet. Depending on the implementation, cloud managed networking may provide centralized management, visibility, and control without the cost and complexity of controller appliances or overlay management software. For example, cloud managed networks may enable network administrators to control and manage a network from a single interface that may be deployed at a different geographical location from the managed network. Furthermore, cloud managed networks further provide more efficient and effective scalability. However, there are still several technical limitations associated with this emerging technology area.